The New Wielder
by Jaenelle Angelline
Summary: Sara finds herself reluctant to pass on the Witchblade when she meets the future wielder. Better than it sounds, this summary stinks. Read, review please! Thank you!
1. Chapter 1

**Witchblade: A New Wielder**

**Author's Note:**

Straying away from X-Men fanfic for a change of pace, and because Sara went whispering in my ear and asked me to write this. So the usual disclaimer applies; I don't own, so you don't sue. I can't even claim the idea was mine, this is Sara's fault! And for everyone reading this who loved the Witchblade TV show as much as I do/did: Mythic Films, one of the companies who's associated with the production of the show, is considering a DVD relaes of both seasons of the show, but aren't sure they should do it because they say they aren't sure that there's enough interest out there in a cancelled show to justify releasing a DVD. So Witchblade TV show fans out there are trying to flood their mailboxes with email asking them to release the DVD. If you'd like to have the show on DVD, email now, on with the story! Enjoy, and reviews, as always, are hugely appreciated!---Jaenelle

Chapter 1:

"Thank you," Sara Pezzini couldn't keep the sarcasm out of her voice as she took the two cups of coffee from the guy behind the counter at the coffee shop. Three cups of basic coffee, hers plain, Danny's and Jake's with cream and sugar, shouldn't have been that hard.

The guy behind the counter, whose nametag read 'Mike', seemed oblivious to her acidic sarcasm. He simply shrugged and turned to the next customer, eyes blinking owlishly in his acne-pocked face, and Sara shook her head once more as she exited the doughnut shop.

It seemed cliché to be getting her coffee from a doughnut shop; and if she'd had her pick, they would have gone to the Starbucks up the road. But Danny had insisted that he wanted his coffee from here, and it was the closest shop to the precinct where Jake was waiting for his, so Sara had been overruled.

She circled the car, skirting the front bumper of the police cruiser and leaned over to hand Danny the cardboard tray with the three cups of coffee tucked neatly inside. "Hang onto that," she admonished him dryly. "You have no idea what I had to go through to get those."

"Mike?" Danny asked with a smile.

"You knew and you didn't warn me?" Sara sounded incredulous.

Danny grinned apologetically. "It wasn't till I saw his car back there," he jerked his thumb behind him at a beat-up red Geo Metro, "That I thought to warn you. Don't worry, though; the next time we stop here he'll remember your preferences and get you what you want quickly. You probably made enough of an impression that he's not going to forget you in a hurry."

"There's going to _be_ a next time?" Sara said acidly, standing and starting to head around the back of the car toward the driver's seat. She had just cleared the rear quarter panel when a sudden sound made her turn toward the narrow alley between the doughnut shop and the bank next door.

A small kid, looking no more than maybe eight, was standing in the alleyway, coughing hard. Sara winced at the dry, raspy sound; the child was sick. There was a backpack on the kid's back over an oversized navy-blue threadbare fleece jacket; baggy jeans and grimy sneakers completed the ensemble. There was a navy-blue baseball cap pulled low over the kid's forehead, obscuring the face, but the hands were up around the mouth as the child almost doubled over coughing. Sara paused irresolutely, wondering if she should check on the kid. Wasn't school still in? This kid should be in school. Or at least at home in bed when that cough sounded that bad.

She wasn't the only one interested in the kid, though. A tall man, skinny and reeking of cheap alcohol, stopped in front of the kid. "Hey, kid. Gimmie yer money." The kid just continued coughing. The man squeezed past the small form in the alley and started opening the kid's backpack.

The kid's head snapped up, and Sara found herself looking into a pair of bright, jade-green eyes. There was a smattering of freckles over the short, snub nose, and clear, pale skin over the rest of the child's face. And a shock of very light red hair, more blonde than red but enough red to give the kid that qualification. And even though the clothes were too baggy for Sara to determine if the kid was male or female, she would have bet the kid was a girl.

The girl turned and reached for the strap of her backpack weakly. "Stop that, it's mine," she said, but her voice was weak and thready, and raspy from coughing. The man simply yanked backward on the obviously full pack, unbalancing the child and pulling the girl backward as he pulled the backpack off her back. With impatient fingers, he yanked at the zipper, opening the main compartment of the backpack and spilling books, pencils, and notebooks out onto the alley floor.

Sara had just about enough of this. "Hey!" she said loudly, advancing on the pair in the alley, holding up her badge. "Give that back to the kid and get on your way before I arrest you for being drunk in public!" Ordinarily she would have just arrested him without warning, but it was the end of her shift and she wanted to go home. She didn't want to spend her entire afternoon off filling out paperwork for some crack-addicted drunk.

The man looked up, startled, saw her police jacket, saw her badge, and dropped the now-empty backpack, fleeing backward down the alley. Sara briefly thought about pursuing, decided she didn't want to go to the trouble, and turned to the kid instead. Crouching, she picked up the backpack and started to gather the books up. "Here you are," she said gently as she stood. "They're okay." She turned to look at the kid, who was now looking at her with equal interest and a wary curiosity.

Her first reaction was that she had miscalculated the girl's age. She wasn't eight; the eyes looking out of that too-thin-for-health face were older, the eyes she'd expect to see from an older child, perhaps ten or twelve. And those eyes…Sara stared at those green orbs for a second that seemed like an eternity, and felt the Witchblade tingle at the back of her mind. The vision that came to her mind's eye, unbidden, was that of a strawberry-blonde young woman, her body wrapped in the Witchblade's armor, fighting a group of heavily-armed thugs. And then, on the heels of that startling vision, a nagging feeling that she should help the girl.

Normally Sara made it a point of doing the exact opposite of whatever the Witchblade told her to do; the damn thing was useful but could be a damned pain in the neck sometimes. But if what she was being shown was right, this girl could be a future Blade-wielder, and Sara wanted to help the girl anyway. "I'm Detective Sara Pezzini." She held out her hand.

The girl spent a long time just staring at Sara, then slowly held out a hand. "Jade," she said. No last name, just a first name.

Sara waited for a moment, and when no other information was forthcoming, she prodded delicately, "Well, Jade…you've got a nasty cough, and it's kind of chilly. Shouldn't you be in school?"

The girl gave Sara a look filled with pity for Sara's stupidity, then said, "School let out an hour ago."

"Oh." Sara refused to be fazed by the scorn. "So shouldn't you be home, having you Mom take care of that cold?" _Or Dad_, she thought belatedly, thinking of all the times that her own father had been the one to shepherd her through an illness, but didn't go on further.

The kid reached for the backpack Sara held, shouldering it with a grunt that spoke eloquently of its weight. "Nah. Mom's still gone. I checked when I went past the apartment on my way to school. I don't have a key to get in, neither."

"Gone? Where is she?" Sara frowned.

Jade shrugged. "Dunno. She was supposed to get paid yesterday, and I wanted her to pick up some bread and milk but she never got home last night. Probably went to Hakeem's."

"Hakeem?" Sara frowned again. "Who's that?"

"Mom's 'friend'." Sara could hear the quotation marks around the name. "Hakeem finds Mom all her customers and gives her the discount on her beer and…and her other stuff."

Customers. Beer. 'Other stuff.' Sara's heart suddenly ached for the girl. Here Jade was, sick, probably hungry, and she should be home. Instead, her mother was drunk and probably stoned somewhere, strung out on whatever drugs she was taking and passed out at her pimp or her supplier's. "Oh, Jade." She sighed, wanting to help but not sure how. "Where do you live?"

"Richmar apartments. In Brooklyn." Sara knew the place; it was a bad neighborhood for a kid to live in, close to the red light district and rife with gangs, drugs, and prostitutes.

It was also quite a way from where they currently were. "Well, if you hang around and wait, your mom should be coming home soon." Sara said. _At least, I hope so,_ she added silently to herself.

Jade dashed that hope with a shake of her head. "Nope. Mom never gets back before midnight if she's gone when I get out of school."

"So where are you going to stay? Do you have a friend I can take you to?" Surely there had to be someone.

Jade looked down self-consciously. "No. Nobody at school likes me. They say I stink, and my mother's an addict and my father's a john." She straightened up proudly. "I beat up Jimmy Davis for saying so."

Sara had to chuckle at that. "All right, tough girl. You start on home now, and I'll check up on you tomorrow at your place." She'd take the cruiser; she didn't want her bike stolen in that neighborhood. She'd never get it back. "Here," she said, taking a five dollar bill from her pocket, the change from her coffee, and handing it to Jade. "Get some medicine for that cough. And some food."

"Thanks, DetectivePezzini." Jade took the money, her eyes sparkling.

"Sara," Sara corrected her. "I never did like titles." Jade grinned at her, and Sara stood and headed toward the car and her waiting partner.

"Wow. I thought I'd never get my coffee," Jake commented wryly as he took his cup of now-cold coffee from Danny. "What'd you do, go all the way to Columbia for it?" when there was no answer, he looked up at Sara, sitting at her desk across from him. "Pez?"

She stared into thin air, thinking, and didn't answer. So he tried again. "Pez?" Still no answer. "Sara!"

"What? You don't have to shout, I'm right here," she said irritably, annoyed at being shaken out of her thoughts.

"Well your body might be here but your mind is like, a million miles away. Whatcha got on your mind?" Sara didn't answer, already thinking again.

Danny looked up from the paperwork he was filling out. "Not a million, more like…right around the corner, back at the doughnut shop," he told Jake, putting his pen down and leaning back in his chair. "We had an…interesting encounter back there. Well, at least Sara did."

"Really? Interesting how?" Jake switched his attention from Sara to Danny after one last look at his partner, who sat there staring into space, oblivious to the conversation. He listened as Danny described what he'd seen of the brief encounter with the street kid.

"Oh, yeah. Jade," Jake sat back in his chair, lacing his fingers behind his head and grinning at the way Sara suddenly gave him her full attention at the sound of the name.

"Jade? You know her?" Sara was suddenly very interested in Jake.

Jake waved a dismissive hand in the air. "Not personally, no. But she tends to hang out in that alley by the doughnut shop. The cops give her some protection from the street people who think a kid is easy pickings, and the trash is good for doughnut scraps. And it's warm in that alley; the heat from the shop's good for that."

"What about her parents? Mom, Dad?"

Jake shrugged. "Never seen a father. As for her mother, well…the woman hooks to pay for her drugs and her alcohol. Jade's lucky she's cute, or she'd have starved by now. People give her money, and she gets food that way."

Sara shook her head. "That's not right. She's a kid, she should be worrying about schoolwork, not on where her next meal's going to come from. Hasn't anyone done anything about it?"

Jake waved his hand helplessly in the air. "What are we gonna do, Pez? Stuff like this happens all the time. There are kids like her all over the city. We can't help every one of them, as much as we'd like to."

"You could start, one kid at a time!" Sara stood up, shoving her chair back with unnecessary force and grabbing her jacket, slung over the chair back. She shrugged into it quickly, then grabbed the keys to her bike and headed for the door.

"Pez, you can't save the world!" Jake called after her.

"Sure I can!" she shot back as the door closed behind her. He looked at Danny. Danny looked at him. They both sighed in unison and shook their heads, going back to work.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note:Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed!I didn't thow there were this many of us Witchblade fans out there! I'm aware that the email link no longer works; give me a bit of time and I'll find out what's going on with that. Yes, there are going to be more chapters. This is going to be a long one. Hang onto your hats, people! Here we go!

Chapter 2

Sara didn't take her usual route home; instead, she rounded the corner on her bike and stopped in the parking lot of the doughnut shop. Through the tinted lens of her bike helmet, she could see a small shape huddled against the wall of the doughnut shop, apparently trying to keep warm. As she got off her bike and took her helmet off, the sound of raspy coughing filled the air. Sara winced at the sound, and frowned as a large, fat drop of rain splattered on the pavement in front of her. Then another. And another. By the time she got across the lot it was raining hard and steadily, drenching everything in a cold, damp deluge. And the Witchblade had gone from a nagging tingle at the back of her mind to a full-blown tantrum she was only too happy to accede to…for once.

Jade was huddled up on the ground against the wall, curled up in a tiny miserable ball, shivering and coughing. Sara bit her lip at the sound, and gently touched the girl's shoulder. "Jade…hey. Thought I told you to go home?"

The little girl turned to look up at Sara wearily, and Sara sucked in a sharp breath. Her skin was paler than she had been just an hour earlier; and now there was a slight sheen of sweat on the freckled nose and cheeks, despite the shivering. And the cough, that dry, terrible cough, sounded worse than ever. "Jade, you're sick. You're really sick. Come on, let me take you home." She took the heavy backpack lying on the ground under Jade's head and took the girl's arm, helping her stand upright. The change in position triggered another coughing fit, and Sara waited while the fit passed. When the girl could talk again, she said firmly, "I'm going to take you to a hospital. You're really sick."

"No!" Jade's voice hardly sounded normal now. "No, I can't go…can't pay…haven't got money…" She started pulling away from Sara, who, alarmed at the prospect of the girl going back to that filthy, rainy alley, took a firmer grip on the small hand.

"All right, all right. No hospital. Got that." Sara tried to sound soothing, but she was really worried. "At least let me take you home, then." Jade looked like she was going to protest, but Sara started walking to her bike, and the girl trailed reluctantly behind her. Sara shouldered the backpack, surprised at how heavy it actually was on her shoulders, and wondered how Jade could carry this weight around all the time. "Get on the back of the bike, and wrap your arms around my waist. And hang on!" Jade did so, laying her head against her backpack on Sara's shoulders. Sara took off.

With the streets emptying quickly due to the rain, it didn't take long for Sara to make her way through the maze of city streets, taking alley shortcuts when she could to get them to the apartment building quickly. Jade tried to take her backpack from Sara when they got there, but Sara refused to relinquish it, and then was glad she did so later whenshe found the elevator was broken and they had to take the stars. Sara, fit and active, took the stairs easily, but Jade seemed to be having problems, getting short of breath and stopping to rest frequently as they took the eight flights up. Under the harsh fluorescent lights of the stairwell, Sara could see that Jade was worse than she'd originally looked. Either that cold she'd had earlier had worsened suddenly, or Sara hadn't been paying much attention and the light hadn't been too good the first time around. The coughing seemed to get worse as they went on, and Sara's anger grew toward the careless mother who would ignore her child when the child was as sick as Jade. She was quite furious as she marched down the narrow, graffiti-covered hall to the door of Jade's apartment.

Jade paused in front of the door, and tried the knob. It wasn't locked. She turned to Sara, face flushed and panting but smiling a little. "Mom's home," she said. "I'll be okay. Can I have my backpack now please?"

"I want to talk to your mother," Sara said, and knocked loudly on the door. There was no answer. She knocked again, and then finally she heard a faint rustle. "Coming, coming," said a male voice, and Jade's eyes suddenly widened. She shrank back, away from the door, and looked terrified as the door opened.

Sara blinked once in surprise. In the doorway stood a mountainous black man, well over six feet tall. He looked at her up and down, contemptuously, then his face split in a lacivious leer. "Wal, ain't you the sight for sore eyes," he drawled, leaning against the doorframe. "Lookin' for a job, sweetie? I can make you very rich…and happy."

Sara had to clench her fist to keep the Witchblade from lashing out, attuned to her temper. "No, thanks. I'm fine with the one I have. I need to talk to Jade's mother." She fished out and flashed her badge; she might be off duty, but sometimes the badge was the only way to get across to some of these people that she meant business.

His face lost that suggestive leer. "Ah, so the brat comes back." He grabbed Jade's arm, shaking her back and forth roughly. "Didn't we tell ya ta stay away till we were done?" Jade stared up at him, wide-eyed, obviously afraid, tears filling her big green eyes. "Why the hell she went an' had a brat like you is beyond me. You're useless. Get outta here!" he shoved her backwards as he let go of her arm, and Jade collided with the opposite wall of the hallway, triggering another violent coughing fit. The big man stepped out into the hall, advancing on the tiny girl, and Sara had it. She drew her gun, stepping between Jade and the behemoth.

"Step into the apartment!" The man eyed the gun warily, then stepped back after a few tense moments and backed into the apartment, still eyeing Sara warily. "Now. I want to talk to Jade's mother."

"Hey, Sal! Your brat's back and she just brought some meddling cop woman with her!" The man yelled. "Get your lazy fat ass out here!"

Sara holstered her gun and went to Jade, picking the child up and laying a soothing hand on her shoulder as the girl stepped into the apartment. It was a truly awful place. The carpet was tattered and torn, dirty and scorched where cigarettes or joints had fallen onto it. The air was thick with cigarette smoke, and Sara shuddered when she saw a movement back along the far wall behind the worn, shabby couch. A mouse or rat, most likely. It looked like someone had made an effort to clean and straighten up, and a few small misshapen clay lumps sat on tattered white paper squares in an effort to look homey. _Probably school_ _projects of Jade's that she brought home to try and make the place look better_, Sara surmised, watching the girl go automatically to one of those clay lumps and pick it up, setting it upright carefully. There were a few crayon drawings done right on the wall itself, lending a bit of color to an otherwise grimy, filthy, bleak room.

Then a door across the room opened, and Sara started coughing herself as a palpable stench of smoke from numerous unnamed substances came out of that room. Jade started coughing too, and Sara holstered her gun, dropped the backpack, and held Jade, whispering soothing nonsensical syllables as the girl's body desperately tried to clear her lungs of the fetid odors. She was interrupted by a drawled, laconic, "Well? What's the brat done now?"

Sara stared at the woman in disbelief. This was Jade's mother? Hair dyed a platinum blonde with faded red roots, face garishly made up with cheap cosmetics that made her look years older, and so stoned and drunk she could barely stand upright…Sara tried to get control of her anger, because the Witchblade was picking up on it and chattering angrily in her mind, urging her to paint the walls with the blood of these two horrible creatures. "She hasn't done anything, ma'am. I found her on the street halfway across town coughing her lungs out next to a doughnut shop. Your daughter's terribly sick. She needs to see a doctor."

"I know that." the woman looked Sara over, then dismissed her casually and walked over to Jade. "Did you get any money? Bring me any doughnuts?"

Jade shook her head. "No one gave me any," she said quietly. "Please…I'll be real quiet, you won't even know I'm here. I promise…" Sara decided not to mention the five she'd given Jade. The girl had probably spent it on something to eat.

"Brat. Think I want you here while Hakeem and I are doing business?' the woman looked at the big black man with an expression of such simpering adoration that Sara wanted to be sick. Or peel her face off. Something like that. The Witchblade was almost roaring in her mind now, and it was getting harder and harder to block it out.

"Ma'am, maybe you didn't hear me. She needs somewhere warm to sleep, medicine, and warm food. She shouldn't be out on the street when she's this sick."

"Look here, bitch," the woman said, giving Sara her full attention, "Brat's been sick for a while. Gonna be sick till she dies. I can't afford the medicines and all those expensive treatments the doctor at the clinic said she needs. I can't even afford to feed her. If she wants to eat she has to earn her own money to eat. She knows that. Stop stickin' your nose in where it don't belong." She turned to Jade, staring at the shivering, sweating girl, then said, "Aw, hell. I got company comin', you can't sleep on the couch like you usually do. Get in the tub and close the curtain, and ain't nobody gonna know you're there." Jade nodded simply and grabbed her backpack, coughing as she dragged it in the direction of the grimy bathroom Sara could see through a broken door at the left of the kitchen.

"She doesn't have a bedroom? Or a bed?" Sara's heart had almost stopped, and now she was speaking through anger-clenched teeth.

"Couch's good enough for her. Now I'd like you to leave, or my customers won't come while they smell a cop in here." The woman turned and stumbled unsteadily back toward the bedroom, and, shocked at the sudden dismissal, Sara let herself be propelled out the door. It wasn't till she was in the hall, staring at a closed and locked door that she snapped back into awareness.

Still somewhat dazed, she went down the narrow stairs and back out to the parking lot, where fortunately her bike was still standing unmolested. She swung astride the bike and pulled her notebook out of her jacket pocket, jotting down the address. "Damnit, I didn't even get her last name," she suddenly realized. "Maybe I should…" but she didn't feel like taking those stairs back up. "And what did she mean that Jade was going to be sick until she dies?" That was bothering Sara. She sat there for a bit, wondering what he meant, and then got back off the bike and went into the building.

At the far end of the first-floor hallway was a door marked 'Rent office'. Sara went to the door, knocked on it, then opened it without further preamble. Inside was a grossly fat, balding black man, puffing on what looked like a joint, which he hid as soon as he saw her. "What can I do for you, Ma'am?" he said with a false show of politeness. His eyes were busy devouring her black t-shirt, jeans, and the black leather jacket she wore, all fitting and obviously not thrift-store purchases.

"I need information about a tenant you have living in 11G," Sara said, pulling her notebook out. "a woman named Sal, and a little girl, her daughter, named Jade? I don't know the last name."

"Oh, the Dorans. Yeah, Sal Doran's a good lay. I give her a discount on the rent 'cause she'll give me some whenever I want it." He didn't elaborate on the 'some', and Sara didn't really want to know. "Her pimp Keene's a good sort, makes sure his girls get a fair amount of business and makes sure they get their cut outta his friend Hakeem's drug business." Sara winced inwardly, but kept scribbling notes as she asked, "And the little girl? Jade?"

The man sniffed. "Oh, her. Little mite of a thing. If Sal weren't such a good lay I'd make them leave cause the brat's coughing disturbs everybody in the apartments around them. At least Sal keeps her out of the place most nights so the other residents can sleep."

Sara closed her notebook. "Sal. Keeps. Her. Out. Of. The. Apartment. Most Nights." She spaced each word out slowly, carefully, unable to believe what she'd just heard. The fat man nodded. "So where does she go?" The man shrugged, and Sara pocketed her notebook, leaning over the desk. "Am I to understand that she spends most of her nights roaming the streets? Around here? And you're okay with that? Doesn't it concern you? Aren't you worried at all about what could happen to a child out there? Are you completely stupid?" Her voice rose with each word until she was almost shouting.

The man at least had the grace to squirm. "Look, lady, I just take the rent and take care of repairs. Ain't my place to say what they can or can't do."

There were whole lot of things Sara wanted to say to him, about responsibility, human decency, and common compassion, but couldn't manage to say a thing. The Witchblade in her sleeve was responding to her anger and trying to morph into its gauntlet form; she was trying equally hard not to allow it to do so. And before she lost the battle with it and her own temper she had to get out of there. "Thank you. That's all I needed to know," she said crisply, and turned toward the door. Just before she reached it, she said, "Oh, and expect a visit from the housing authority in a few days." She closed the door behind her, grimly satisfied with the explosion of swearwords coming from behind the door.

She got outside and swung a leg over her bike. She was about to tuck her long brown hair into her helmet when she heard a harsh, dry cough. Her mouth fell open, and she lowered her helmet, in time to see a small figure trudging around the corner toward the highway. "Jade!"

The head turned toward her, and Sara kicked her bike into gear, stopping beside the little girl. "Jade…what happened?"

"My coughing disturbed Mom and Hakeem," the girl said, her voice sounding defeated and very small. "Mom told me to leave."

Sara closed her eyes and counted to ten twice, then counted backward before she opened her eyes again. "So where are you going to go? Do you have anywhere you can stay?"

"Maybe Bethany's House, but they're always so full of homeless people, and I think they're closed now," Jade shrugged simply. "At least I can ask the cook there for any leftovers. He'll give it to me when he has it and he knows I'm hungry."

"Get on the back of the bike," Sara said firmly, coming to a quick decision. "You're not wandering the streets and you're not staying in a homeless shelter. You can stay at my place tonight and I'll figure something out in the morning." The rain was still pelting down, and she was getting soaked. She could only imagine what this standing out in the cold rain was doing to Jade's cough.

"I'm not supposed to go with strangers," Jade said weakly.

"Jade, when the people who are supposed to take care of you don't, sometimes all you can do is trust a stranger," Sara said, taking the heavy backpack and shouldering it. "And I'm a cop. You can trust cops. Didn't they tell you that in school?"

"Yes, they did," Jade said, looking a little brighter. "My teacher says if you get in trouble always go to a cop. They aren't strangers, they're friends, even if I don't know them."

"Exactly," Sara said, relieved. "Now come on, get up in back." Jade climbed on the bike and wrapped her arms around Sara's waist, and Sara started off, driving slower than usual so she wouldn't unseat her passenger in back.

It was a long ride uptown to Sara's apartment, and Jade was almost asleep when they got there. Sara had to untanglethe child'sarms from aroundher own waist when they got there. "Come on, Jade. We're home." Sleepily the girl climbed off the back of the bike and stopped in front of the elevator beside Sara. Sara had parked in the underground garage, and although she usually took the stairs up to street level and then took the stairs up to her third-floor apartment for the exercise, this time she chose to use the elevator because she didn't think Jade was going to be able to do another set of stairs. The girl trudged wearily into the elevator, wide-eyed at the metal buttons, the mirror across the back of the elevator, and the carpeting on the floor. "Wow," she said, impressed. "You must be rich, they've got an elevator!"

Sara had to laugh at that. "No, I'm not rich. Every apartment building has to have an elevator, by law," she said. "It's for handicapped people so they can get up and down as well as other residents who don't want to take the stairs."

"I wish we had one," Jade said wistfully, staring at her reflection in the mirror.

"You do," Sara said, remembering a sign marked 'elevators' in Jade's apartment building. 'They don't work, I suppose. We'll get that fixed. I'm going to talk to the city housing authority tomorrow and have them investigate the man who owns the building."

"But…" Jade looked distressed. "Sara, if you do that they'll throw my mom out and we'll have to go live with Hakeem! I don't want to live with Hakeem! He's mean!"

"How is he mean? Does he hurt you?" Sara frowned at Jade. Jade looked up at her for a moment, then stared down at the carpet and played nervously with a stray thread on her jacket. "Jade? Does he hurt you?"

"N-n-no," Jade said at last, reluctantly, after a long pause. Sara frowned; that didn't sound true to her, but before she could pursue it any further the elevator door opened. She led the way down the hall and unlocked her door, while Jade lagged behind, exclaiming at the soft lighting, the tasteful carpet and clean white walls, so different from the narrow hall, graffiti-covered walls, and dim, almost nonexistent lighting of her own apartment building.

Sara breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped into her apartment. She loved her apartment; it was spacious and familiar and she liked it. She could have afforded something bigger in a more upscale place on her salary, but she liked it here and didn't want to move.

From Jade's delighted expression, she liked the place too. She walked around the spacious efficiency, taking in the double bed, Sara's weight bench, and the comfortable couch in front of the TV. "It's beautiful," she said finally. "You're so lucky to be able to live in a nice place like this."

"Yeah, I guess I am," Sara said quietly as she went to Jade and took the soaked baseball cap off her head. "Come on. Let's get you out of those wet things first, and into a warm shower. I have some shorts you can wear, and one of my t-shirts should fit you." She put the backpack down and propelled the girl into the bathroom gently. "Shampoo over there; soap there. Washcloths are in the cabinet there. Towels are on the towel rail." She closed the door firmly behind the girl, and a few moments later heard the water start running.

Sara went to her bedroom and took out a pair of the shorts she usually wore to go to the gym, one of her t-shirts, and a pair of socks. Then she went to her closet, dug out one of her thickest, warmest comforters, and left all of that on her couch as she went and adjusted her thermostat to a few degrees higher than she usually preferred it. Jade would appreciate the warmth. She hunted around in her cupboard for a can of chicken soup. She didn't like chicken soup; it reminded her too much of being sick. But it was good after you got sick, and Jade would probably welcome it. She dumped the contents of the can into a saucepan, added a little water to thin it out, and made a plate of sandwiches to go with it, putting them on the counter and dragging up an extra barstool. Usually she ate standing up, or on the coffee table while she watched TV; but with Jade here, she felt the need to be a little more formal.

Jade came out of the bathroom wrapped in one of Sara's towels, and she grinned as she went to the couch. "Here. Put these on in there. The socks might be a little big but they'll keep your feet warm. Give me your old things when you get in the bathroom." The soup started to boil, and she went to turn the heat on the stove down. When she got back Jade's old clothes were sitting on the floor outside the bathroom door. Sara picked them up gingerly, wrinkling her nose a little; they were worn and dirty and yes, they did smell a little. She dropped them into her apartment-size washer along with a small load of her own clothes, then quickly changed her own clothes by the bed. She'd shower in the morning. Boxers, a tank top, then socks, and she padded back into the kitchen to take the soup off the burnerand divide it between the two bowls.

Jade's eyes lit up when she saw the soup and sandwiches, but she restrained herself and seated herself decorously. She took small bites, chewing and swallowing carefully, and Sara watched for a while. After the girl finished with the soup and sandwiches, she went hunting in her medicine cabinet for something to help with the cough. "Here," she said finally, checking the label of a dusty bottle. "Expiration date says it's still good, and if we halve the dose it should be okay for kids. It'll help with your cough." She poured a little of the medicine out in ha spoon, and Jade opened her mouth. "Uh…Jade?" Something didn't look quite right to Sara; she popped the spoon into the girl's mouth, watched as she swallowed, then pinpointed it. The girl was extremely pale and her lips were bluish, even in the heat of the room. "Jade, you're really sick. Do you know what's wrong with you?"

The girl shrugged. "The doctor at the welfare clinic I get my school shots at told Mom that I needed to go for tests to determine what it was, but we didn't have the money so I never went."

"Did he have any idea? How long ago was that?"

"He said it might be leukemia or tuberculosis. I think it's been, like, maybe seven or eight months ago, 'cause I went at the end of winter and it's fall now."

Sara went cold. The chattering voices in her mind, the voices of the Witchblade, went silent. Leukemia. Tuberculosis. "But…but…children die from that…" Sara finally managed, her voice a weak croak. "If you don't get treatment you die from that."

"I know. I did some reading in the library," Jade said matter-of-factly, propping her elbows on the counter and resting her chin on her folded hands. "It's all right. We don't have the money for the tests and treatments and stuff, so I just have to live with it. Mom says doctors don't always know everything and he was probably just trying to get more money from us. Hakeem says I'll go to heaven and be with the angels, and I think I'd like that 'cause heaven sounds like a better place than down here."

Sara couldn't speak. The Witchblade was silent. All she could do was stare at Jade, her eyes filling with tears. "No," she said finally, sick at heart. "No…it can't be…" Jade looked at her quizzically, opened her mouth to speak…and started coughing again. Sara snapped out of her shock and caught her as she fell off the stool with the force of her coughing.

She guided Jade across the floor to the couch, seating her and wrapping the thick comforter around her. Jade coughed for a long time, and Sara again felt tears welling up when she saw blood on the girl's lips after coughing. She handed the girl a tissue quickly, and took it when Jade finished coughing. "Why don't you lie down and get some sleep," she said gently as she got up. "I know you're tired. I want to make some phone calls and see if there's anything that can be done." Jade nodded, her eyelids already drooping, and Sara propped a pillow under her head and tucked the covers around her shoulders. She headed for the kitchen, emptying and washing the dishes, then took the phone into the bathroom. She got her address book out of her night table on the way; it was so rare that she called anyone that she didn't know any numbers by heart except work. Searching quickly, she found the number she wanted, dialed it quickly, and waited, heart pounding, for it to pick up.

"Hello?" came a drowsy male voice from the other end of the phone.

"Jake!" Sara sighed in relief. "Jake, look, I need your help."

"Pez, do you know what time it is?" Jake still sounded befuddled. Sara shot a quick glance at her bedside clock. It was 11:30 pm. "I know you have off tomorrow but some of us are still working and need to get some beauty sleep—"

"Oh, Jake, you're beautiful enough already. Listen, I have a problem maybe you can help me with."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

On the other end of the phone, Jake sighed. When Sara got wrapped up in a problem she didn't let it go until she got to the end of whatever the problem was. "Okay. Shoot."

"I have Jade here sleeping on my couch."

"You what!" Jake sat bolt upright in bed, disturbing the girl sleeping next to him. Amber rolled over with a sleepy protest on her lips, which died at his imperious 'be quiet' gesture. "Jade? The doughnut shop Jade? The little girl Jade?"

"Yes. And Jake…she might have leukemia."

Jake sat there for a moment, absolutely stunned. "What?" he finally managed.

"She might have leukemia." Sara sounded as sick as he felt. "She's been going to a public clinic for low-income persons to get her vaccines and stuff for school, and the doctor there recommended she get tested after she came down with a bad cough at the end of last winter. They didn't have the money for the tests so her mother never took her to be diagnosed or treated."

"But…but…" Jake waved a hand helplessly, though he knew Sara couldn't see it. "There's welfare and Medicare for that. There's a way, I know there is. There has to be. She can't die like that, Sara, she's too young!"

"Frankly, Jake, I don't think her mother gives a damn." Sara described Jade's mother's apartment to him, including Hakeem, the odor of drugs and cigarettes, and what the rental office guy had told her. "Do you understand, Jake? Her mother kicks her out of the apartment every night on purpose. Because she's inconvenient. It's not right, Jake, and I can't just—" Sara swallowed hard. "Jake…I can't just let her die. I have to try something. Anything. You told me once you have a friend who's a doctor. Do you think you could get the doctor to come here and take a look at her?" Sara sounded frantic. "I'll pay him for the visit myself. I just can't let her die, Jake. I don't know what it is about her, but I can't."

"Sara, she's gonna need Jade's mom's permission to treat or test her. If she doesn't have that she can't do anything." Jake felt his heart sink. It was a horrible situation, and if the mother didn't cooperate… "Here, let me give you her number. She's Tina Gillis, and her number's 555-2130. She works at Nighttime Pediatrics, and she will do house calls on emergency cases. Ask her what you need to do."

"Thanks, Jake, you're a lifesaver. I owe you one, a huge one. Just name it."

"I'll remember that. Call her now." Sara hung up.

Jake put the phone down a little more slowly, still stunned by what Sara had told him. He went to the doughnut shop regularly, though most of the other cops liked the Starbucks. Whenever he saw Jade, he made sure to give her his change or whatever he could spare, even buying an extra bagel or doughnut for her once in a while. And all the while, Jade had been…was still…dying…

Amber had gone back to sleep; Jake lay down beside her again, but sleep for him was a long time in coming.

"Hello, this is Doctor Tina Gillis, can I help you?"

"Um, yes, I hope you can. My name is Sara Pezzini, I'm Jake McCarty's partner at the precinct."

"Jake?" the doctor said. "I didn't know he had a partner! You're very patient to have put up with him for this long." Sara wanted to laugh. Jake's ego would take a definite blow if he knew what his—from the sound of it—ex-girlfriend was saying about him, but she was too tense right now to share the humor.

"Thanks for the compliment, Doctor Gillis, but I have a problem. I have a little girl here right now who's got a terrible cough. She says the last time she went to an immunization clinic the doctor there told her mother to have her tested for leukemia or tuberculosis or something like that and they never went because the mother said she didn't have any money. Can you do the test?"

Tina shook her head. "I'm sorry, I can't. Not without her parent's permission or permission from a legal guardian. If her mother were to sign a statement saying that she authorizes you to make decisions about her medical care because she isn't competent to make them, then I could, but without that, I can't."

"But if I got that, you could." Sara's mind was already busy.

"Yes, I could."

"Can I call you tomorrow? I'll get permission by tomorrow."

"Certainly."

Sara was already in motion, shrugging her jeans on as she hung up. A few minutes with a pen and paper served her purpose, and she then folded the piece of paper and put it carefully in her pocket. Then she shrugged on her jacket and slipped out of bed. She didn't think the poor girl was going to wake up anytime soon, but just in case she did… "Jade: Had to run out for a moment. Make yourself comfortable, watch TV if you like, but don't go anywhere. I'll be back soon." She propped the note on the edge of the coffee table, against a small decorative crystal vase, and quietly left, locking the door and getting onto the elevator.

She headed back the way she'd come, back to Jade's mother's apartment, and knocked smartly on the door. She could hear someone moving around inside, loud voices, and smell the odor of various recreational drugs, but although one part of her wanted to go in and bust them all, she needed Sally Doran's signature on the piece of paper in her pocket. For Jade's sake.

She kept knocking, insistently, making it clear that she wasn't going anywhere, and was finally rewarded when a large black man came down the hallway. Not as big as Hakeem, but still a fair size nonetheless. He paused just outside the door, looked her over curiously, then said in a slow drawl, "We don't see many whites here in this neck of the woods."

"My name is Sara Pezzini. I need to speak to Sally Doran," Sara said firmly, refusing to let herself be intimidated by this man. Jade needed someone to stick up for her.

The man spent a few more minutes possibly contemplating her motives, then stepped to the door, produced a key, and opened it. The noise inside the apartment stopped abruptly as what seemed like a dozen pair of eyes turned to stare at her, standing in the door. The man never blinked. "Sally."

A tangle of arms and legs on the couch turned into three black men and one disheveled, drunk, and stoned white woman. "Righ' here, Keene," she slurred. "What you wan'?"

"This lady needs to speak to you." Keene pushed Sara forward by the elbow.

"Oh. S'you. Whatcha want?" Sally could barely look at Sara straight.

Sara controlled her disgust and pulled the paper out of her pocket, fiddling with it nervously. "Ms. Doran, I'm aware of your daughter's condition. I want to help."

Sally broke into raucous laughter. "Ah, whatcha wanna mess with the brat for? She's gonna die anyway."

"Ms. Doran, regardless of what it might look like on the news, not every child with leukemia dies. Many of them live into adulthood or longer…with treatment." Sara stressed the word 'treatment'. "But Jade won't get that chance if she doesn't get treated. I'll take care of her myself, I'll pay for the treatments if I have to. She won't cost you anything." Sara took a deep breath. "But you have to sign this note saying you give me permission to take charge of her treatment. She can stay with me while she's in therapy and she has a home with me for as long as she wants it." A note of pleading crept into Sara's voice, as much as she tried to mask it. This was a matter of life and death.

For a moment it seemed that Sally was going to agree, then she stepped back and laughed again. "Naw. I ain't lettin' a cop take m'daughter away from me. You're gonna fin' a way t'turn this against me, I know y'will. Nope. I ain't signin' nothin'."

"Ms, Doran, please," Sara said helplessly. "She needs treatment. It's not fair that she dies before she gets a chance to live her life. Give her a chance."

Keene shifted position subtly, and every eye in the room instantly turned to him. "Sign it, Sally," he said firmly.

"Keene!" Sally exclaimed, shocked.

The man took a pen out of his pocket and handed it to Sally. "Sign it, Sally. As little as I've seen that girl around here, she might as well not exist. You complain on a daily basis that she's a bother, and that you wish she was never born. You've even told her that on a daily basis. Hakeem doesn't like her. Why not give her care to someone who does?"

"Cause she's a cop. She's gonna fin' a way t'turn this against me, I know she is."

Keene looked at Sara sharply. "Are you a cop?"

Sara felt a sinking feeling. "Yes…but I don't want to use Jade to hurt her. Jade's life is in the balance here. I want to do this for her." Then, a little bolder, she said, "And it's not like she loves Jade anyway."

Sal nodded sloppily. "'S true, I don't," she said. "I don't give a damn. But I don't wanna give her to no cop either."

Keene looked at Sara. Looked at Sally. Looked at Sara again. Then he pushed the pen into Sally's hand and handed her the paper. "Sally. Sign it." She looked like he was going to protest, and he snapped, more forcefully, "Sign it!"

Sally signed it.

Sara picked up the precious piece of paper with relief. She had it, she had Jade's salvation in her hand. She breathed a sigh of relief and tucked the paper in her pocket. "Thank you, Ms. Doran."

"I'll show you out, Ms. Pezzini," said Keene, and turned his back on the room, leading Sara out into the hall and closing the door firmly. They were halfway down the hall before he spoke. "You'll be good to her?" he said.

Sara stopped and looked at him squarely. "Why is it important for you to know?"

Keene sighed and shoved his fist deep into his pockets. "Ms. Pezzini, I may sell the stuff, I may pimp my girls, but I've never used the drugs myself. Sally was a good girl, once. She was the fiancee of an old college friend of mine. After he died in a car accident, she turned to drugs, then to hooking to keep herself in the habit. I became her pimp to keep her from going off with the wrong customer and winding up dead. Instead, she wound up knocked up after a night with a man she couldn't remember. She wanted to get an abortion, but I couldn't watch my best friend's fiancée ruin herself and her baby. I dragged her through detox and kept her clean through her pregnancy, made sure she kept every prenatal appointment, and gave her the name Jade for the child. For ten years now I've kept an eye on Jade, tried to make sure that, if she didn't get everything she wanted, she got at least what she needed. I enrolled her in school, made sure she had supplies and books. She's a good student; despite what her mother is like, she keeps her grades up and is always on the honor roll.

"Then she got sick. I was helpless when Sally told me the doctor thought she had leukemia. I don't have the kind of money needed to take care of that and get her treated. Even if I took her to a children's hospital that would do the work free, she's not my child. I couldn't do it. I tried to distance myself, ignore what was going on, but it got so hard. She's gotten very pale and thin over the summer, lost weight, lost appetite…she's dying, and I couldn't do anything. But now you're here, and you promised to take care of her." he turned to Sara, his face serious. "You will, won't you, Ms. Pezzini?"

Sara looked back at him, her gravity matching his. She didn't like perps. In any other situation, she would be arresting him. But he had done what he could to give a small girl a hand up out of the morass of sin and sloth that she had been born into, and that simple, basic compassion was something that was sorely lacking even in the child's own mother. Moved, she smiled gently as she placed a hand on his arm. "I'll take care of her. Here's my card; call me if you want to speak to her or know how she's doing." He took the card uncertainly, then slipped the card into his pocket, nodded briefly to her as they reached the front door, and tuned away back into the depths of the building. Sara went home, wondering at his motives but too thankful for the signature on the paper in her pocket to protest or be too suspicious.

Jade was still asleep when Sara got back. She quietly hung her jacket in the closet, removed her shoes, got the freshly-washed clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer, thanking God that she had a quiet machine, and stretched herself out on the bed, watching the child sleep. Jade's breath was a harsh rasp in her throat, and listening to it made Sara's own throat hurt. She'd have to get up early tomorrow; there was a lot to do. She had to get Jade some decent clothes, go shopping for groceries and take Jade to see Tina Gillis, then pick up whatever medicines Gillis said Jade needed to have…

Still thinking, Sara drifted off into sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Sara woke to the smell of coffee and eggs and the sound of Jade's hacking cough. Rolling over in bed and blinking, she tried to shake off the remnants of the dream she'd had and looked automatically for her new houseguest.

Jade was in the kitchen area, rummaging in the refrigerator. A few minutes later she came out with a jar of jelly and put that on the counter, then reached for the bag of bread. As she did so, she realized that Sara was awake, and smiled cheerfully through her terrible pallor. "Good morning, Sara," she said quietly, looking suddenly uncertain. "I…thought I'd make breakfast. My mom always liked it when I did that for her. I didn't know what you'd like so I made eggs and coffee and I was getting ready to make toast. Is there anything else you want?" She punctuated the sentence with a cough.

Sara got up and placed the back of her hand on Jade's forehead. The child's forehead felt hot to her, and sticky. Sara placed a hand on Jade's arm, checked her there. More sweating, and yet her skin was cold. Not a good sign. She shook her head. "Jade, go lie down in the bed. I'll finish breakfast and bring it. You need to get some rest." She got the bread bag open and dropped two slices in the toaster.

"The bed? But…that's your bed!" Jade sounded shocked.

Sara mentally counted to ten then backwards to one, and nodded firmly. "Yes. My bed. We'll get you one today."

"Why?" Jade's sudden question made Sara curse aloud as she realized she hadn't told Jade that she would be staying with Sara for the foreseeable future.

She let the question hang in the air as she divided the scrambled eggs Jade had made between two plates and buttered the toast now popping out of the toaster. When she was done she poured Jade a glass of orange juice and herself a cup of coffee, then put it on a low bed table she used to do paperwork at home while sitting on her bed. She waited until Jade sat down on the bed, then put the tray table on it and sat cross-legged on the end of the bed herself. Grabbing the jeans she'd draped over the bedpost the night before, she extracted the folded piece of paper, handed it to Jade, and said, "Read that."

Jade read the note aloud:

"_I, Sally Doran, do hereby give Sara Pezzini permission to make decisions about Jade Doran's medical treatment and care, and I give Jade my permission to stay at Sara Pezzini's residence until such a time as she is no longer welcome. Sally Doran."_

Jade looked up slowly. "What…I don't understand…you said you'd figure something else in the morning…"

Sara wrapped her fingers around the cup of coffee she was holding and said carefully, "Last night after you went to sleep I called a friend of mine. She's a pediatrician. She said she would do the tests necessary if I could get your mother to sign care of your medical condition over to me." Sara gestured to the paper. "So I did. I got her signature. You're welcome to stay here as long as you like, and I'll arrange the necessary treatments for whatever the doctor tells me you have. Maybe if we're lucky it'll be just a simple cough." It was an optimistic view she didn't really feel, given the duration, frequency and sound of the coughing Jade was doing.

"You mean I can stay here? With you?" Jade ran her finger over her mother's signature on the page, as if not quite believing it, then said, warily, "Why?"

"Why what?" Sara put down her coffee cup.

"Why are you being so nice to me? What do you want? No one's ever been this nice. No one's ever cared what happened to me, or where I went or if I lived or died. Mom…" Jade took a deep breath. "Mom always says she wishes I was never born. She says I'm worthless and lazy and stupid and I'll never amount to anything. She says I'm just a burden and if I dropped dead she wouldn't…care…she says she doesn't love me…never will…she says she doesn't know why I try so hard in school 'cause I'll never get anywhere and the only job a piece of…trash…like me is ever going to get is on my back with my legs open…" Jade was sobbing now, crying as hard as Sara had ever seen anyone cry.

Sara got up, squeezed onto the bed behind Jade, and hugged her tightly, smoothing her hair and murmuring soothing words as her own eyes filled with tears. They were cruel, hurtful words to say to your own daughter, words that Jade had tried to pretend didn't hurt but had cut her to her soul and left it bleeding. And to tell her own daughter that the only thing she'd ever be able to do was sell herself…the Witchblade was silent in her mind, but Sara lashed out at it mentally, angry with it. After everything she'd gone through, Jade deserved a normal life. She didn't deserve to be hampered with this fey piece of jewelry Sara was burdened with. She didn't need to be locked into this constant battle with something that had its own mind. As much as Sara hated the thing and wanted to pass it on as soon as possible, she still couldn't see giving it to poor Jade. The Witchblade wouldn't be that cruel. Could it? It stayed silent, and finally Jade stopped crying and sniffling in Sara's arms and just lay quietly.

"Jade," Sara said, softly, stroking the fine blond-red hair, "I can't explain it, but I felt a connection to you when I saw you in the alley yesterday. I felt you needed someone to care about you, to care what happened to you. I don't want anything from you. I don't need you to fix my breakfast every morning. I don't want you to be anything but who you are."

"Who am I?" Jade said pensively, thoughtfully. "I don't think I know."

"You are Jade Doran," Sara said firmly, pulling the girl up to a sitting position on the bed and looking into those bright green eyes. "You're an excellent student on your school's honor roll, you're conscientious, smart, and have a bright future ahead of you if someone gave you a chance. You're a beautiful girl, and you have spirit, courage and determination. I wish I had half your determination when I was your age," she said, ruefully.

"Really?" Jade smiled, the first real smile Sara had seen on her face. "You want to be more like me?"

"Yes," Sara said honestly. 'I do."

Jade thought about that for a moment, then grinned again. "Cool!"

Sara smiled back and indicated the breakfast. "Go ahead and eat that now before it gets cold." She fished out the bottle of cough medicine and a spoon, and left that on the tray. "Take that when you're done. I'm going to take a quick shower, and then we'll find something for you to wear so we can go."

"Where are we going?" Jade dug into the pile of eggs as if she were starving.

Sara hunted around in her drawers for a fresh pair of jeans and another t-shirt. "Today's my day off, so first we're going to the clinic and have Dr. Gillis do those tests. Then we're going to go shopping for some decent clothes for you, and a bed. As long as you're staying here, you need to have something better to sleep on than my couch." She headed into the bathroom, picking up the towel Jade had left on the floor and depositing it into the hamper, then pulled a fresh towel out of the closet.

"But your couch is fine!" Jade protested as the bathroom door closed.

Sara pulled open the bathroom door a crack and looked at Jade. "You're nuts if you think I'm going to have you sleep on that battered old thing," she said laconically. "You need a bed."

Jade waited until Sara came out of the shower, dressed in jeans, a gray tank top, and pulling her hair up in a messy ponytail before she ventured timidly, "Your couch is lots more comfortable than the one at home. That one had a spring sticking out of the top of the middle seat and it stuck me whenever I moved."

Sara plopped down in the middle of the floor and started to lace up her sneakers. "I don't know how your mother did things, but I don't do things that way," she said firmly. "I have several rules, Jade. First is that my guests don't sleep on the couch. Second is that my guests don't make me breakfast; I can get my own. Third, if you don't have a reason to get out of bed early in the morning, don't. Usually on the days when I'm off I just lie around until afternoon, then get up and run errands. But we have a lot to do today." She leaned back on her hands and looked up at Jade with a slight smile. "Usually I like watching the Saturday morning cartoons."

Jade picked up the last piece of toast and bit into it meditatively. "I like some of them," she said, thinking. "But some of them are, like, really stupid."

"Which ones do you like?"

"Hmm." Jade pondered that one while she cradled her orange juice. "Power Rangers. Don't laugh, I know most of my classmates think it's stupid, but I think being able to help people like that would be great. And G.I.Joe. I'd love to go into the Army when I grow up. I want to be able to protect the good guys and shoot up the bad guys." She grinned, took a sip, then looked at Sara. "I never thought about it, but you do the same thing too, right? Maybe I'll become a cop instead."

"You have a long time to decide that, Jade," Sara said. "How old are you exactly?"

"Eleven," Jade said.

"Oh, then there's plenty of time to decide," Sara pointed out, smiling and getting up. "Are you done?"

"Yeah," Jade picked up the spoon and medicine bottle, pouring out the same dose Sara had given her the night before. She grimaced as she swallowed it. "I don't like the way this stuff tastes."

"Neither do I," Sara said honestly as she carried the breakfast dishes into the kitchen area. "But it does help. You weren't coughing as much last night."

"I know!" Jade bounced off the bed and followed Sara as she got the girl's now-dry clothes out of the washer. "Here. Put these on for now; we can get you something that fits better later."

Jade headed for the bathroom, and came out moments later wearing her clothes. The washing did them some good; they still looked shabby, but at least now they were clean. The sneakers, though, Sara decided definitely needed to be replaced. Jade was a pretty girl; she'd never win any pageants but as she got older she would definitely get a few extra looks as she walked down the street.

They took Sara's car this time, a little two-door sports car that she loved almost as much as she did her bike. They'd probably need the trunk space for everything that Sara needed to get today, though she planned on having Jade's bed delivered. She couldn't help but feel a little excited as they drove off; she normally didn't like shopping unless it was for someone else. Now she had a little girl here who needed practically everything, and Sara intended on getting quality stuff, not thrift-store hand-downs. But first…

She pulled into the downtown NightTime Pediatrics, and Jade sat down in one of the chairs as Sara signed her into the sign in sheet for Doctor Gillis and filled out the requisite new patient paperwork. As they waited, Sara leafed through a teenagers' fashion magazine, showing Jade some of the things she thought would look good and listening to Jade's opinion of the various outfits and fashion trends. Sara, who normally found doctors' office waits boring and interminable, felt a jolt of surprise when a nurse's voice called Jade's name and she realized almost a half-hour had passed.

Dr. Tina Gillis was a short, businesslike brunette with a perpetual smile and kind, sparkling brown eyes. She took the release form Sara had brought, made a copy of it, put it in a file, and gave the original to Sara, who repocketed it carefully. Then she turned to Jade. "All right, Jade. Sara tells me you have a chronic condition that you were told needed to be tested for?" Jade nodded timidly, and Gillis nodded. "All right. Let's have your shirt off."

Jade didn't move.

"Jade?" Sara said after a moment. "If you want me to leave, I can…"

"I—I don't want to take my shirt off," Jade said timidly. "Please?"

"Jade, there's nothing wrong with removing clothing in a doctor's office. The clinic that you went to…didn't they ask you to take off your clothes for checkups?"

"Y-yes…" Jade whispered.

"This is the same thing as a checkup, just that I'm going to be a little more thorough so we can find out what's wrong with you," Gillis said. "Now come on, off with the shirt." Her manner was kind but firm, and after a moment Jade hesitantly pulled off the fleece pullover.

Sara's first reaction was to berate herself for not thinking to wash the girl's underclothing. Jade was wearing a dirty training bra that barely supported her budding breasts, and her underwear was in similar shape. Her second reaction, swiftly and totally eclipsing the first, was _Oh my God!_

There was a rainbow of bruises all over Jade's torso, concentrating mostly on her back, but a few livid black bruises wrapped around her sides and marked her stomach. Jade stared at Dr. Gillis, then at Sara's shocked face, and hugged her pullover to her chest as her eyes filled with tears. "Please…" she whispered. "Don't…"

Dr. Gillis stepped forward, speaking quickly and calmly, as though she didn't see anything strange. "I'm just going to take your blood pressure here, and then I need to take a blood sample, all right?" she said. Sara sat back, bit her tongue on all the questions she had, and stayed silent as Dr. Gillis went on chattering to Jade, checking ears, nose, throat, eyes, blood pressure, spent a long time listening to Jade breathe through the stethoscope, then tied a tourniquet around Jade's upper right arm, slid a needle deftly under the skin inside one elbow, and took three full vials of blood. She withdrew the needle, pressed a piece of gauze to the pinprick of blood, and told Jade to apply pressure to stop the bleeding. Dr. Gillis gave the vials to a staff nurse with orders to run them through a full spectrum of tests, for leukemia, vitamin deficiencies, and any other abnormalities, then turned back to Jade. "Now that we have all that taken care of…while we wait for the results, let me ask you about your medical history." By this time Jade had gotten over her self-consciousness about the bruises, and so was completely unprepared when Tina asked her about them. "Where did those come from?" she indicated the bruises on Jade's back while scribbling notes with deceptive casualness.

Jade tensed. "Hakeem," she finally muttered.

"Hakeem?"

"My mom's friend."

"What caused the marks?"

"He hit me with his belt." Sara sucked in a harsh breath, then forced herself to steady her breathing when Jade's huge green eyes turned to her, looking for signs of anger, pity, or rejection. She smiled reassuringly at Jade even as she tried to control her temper and the Witchblade.

"Why did he do that?" Gillis, apparently oblivious to Sara's reaction, went on scribbling notes.

"I was coughing and it bothered him and I couldn't stop so he hit me to make me stop."

"Does he do this often?"

A long pause. Then… "Yes."

"How often?"

"Like, maybe twice a week. I don't do it on purpose, really I don't!"

"I know you don't, sweetheart." Dr. Gillis's tone was soothing. "Does he ever hit you anywhere else?"

Another long pause. Dr. Gillis was about to ask the question again when Jade said, barely audible, "Yes."

Dr. Gillis's pen paused for a long moment, then she said, "Where?"

Jade hesitated again. "On my…on my…my rear…" Sara wanted to throw something…preferably Hakeem.

Dr. Gillis closed the folder and stood. "Jade, I'm going to have to check you there."

"No!" the girl whimpered, terrified. "Please…I'm okay. He hasn't hit me there in a long time."

"Does it still hurt?"

"No." the answer was immediate. Dr Gillis sat back down in her chair and scribbled a note in the folder. Just as she finished, the nurse brought in a sheaf of paper and handed it to Dr. Gillis, who read it with an impassive face and then said, "All right. Jade, go ahead and get dressed now." Jade dressed quickly and sat back down on the exam table, and Dr. Gillis took off her glasses and looked at both Sara and Jade. "Want the good news first or the bad news?"

"Good," Sara said immediately.

"Bad," Jade said at the same time. She flushed and looked at Sara. Sara sighed. "Let's have the bad news first, then." And braced herself.

"You have tuberculosis and a mild touch of pneumonia," the doctor told Jade. "Your tuberculosis is in its secondary stage, which means at this point that your lungs may be permanently damaged. I'll need Sara to take you to the hospital for some x-rays to see if you may need any portions of your lungs removed." Jade gave a soft gasp, and went even paler. Sara, afraid she was going to pass out, went to the table and caught her. "What's the good news?" she said quickly.

Dr. Gillis broke into a broad smile. "You don't have leukemia. And if you follow the diet, exercise, and rest regimen I prescribe for you, and take the antibiotics, you'll heal up completely and there will be no lasting effects besides not being able to win a gold medal in track and field."

"I—I'm not dying?" Jade gasped, looking at the doctor disbelievingly. "I'm not going to die?"

"Not unless you don't follow the instructions I give you," Dr. Gillis said firmly. "You need to stay in bed. Take the pills I'm going to prescribe for you on time, every time. You'll probably have to miss the rest of this school year, but I'm sure you're not going to miss that much."

Instead, Jade looked horrified. "But school just started two months ago! I can't miss the rest of the year!"

Sara sighed. "Jade, you are going to miss the rest of the year," she said. "If that's what the doctor says, that's what you're going to do. You won't be graduating with your friends, you'll graduate a year behind but that wasn't your fault, and no one will hold it against you."

Jade submitted with bad grace, but Sara and the doctor were both firm. "All right. Now, Jade, if you'll go out to the waiting room, I have to give Sara your prescriptions and instructions for you to take them." Jade left the office, and Dr. Gillis turned to Sara.

"So, good news and bad news," she sighed. "I'm surprised at he reaction to missing school, though, it's rare to find that in children from the lower-income backgrounds." She turned to Sara. "Please tell me you're going to try and prosecute the bastard who beat her up so badly."

Sara remembered her earlier shock at the bruises. "I'm going to see what I can do," she said grimly. "Dr. Gillis…I had no idea. I hadn't seen her undressed, and she never mentioned…" Sara compressed her lips. Now she understood Jade's reluctance to admit it when Sara had asked her if Hakeem hurt her. He had, and she hadn't wanted to admit it. "God, the poor kid." She told Dr. Gillis what she had found out about Jade's mother, about the way Jade was treated, and how Sara had met her the day before.

"So she gets out and around," Gillis said thoughtfully. "It would be pretty near impossible to find out how she contracted tuberculosis to begin with. Probably someone who was already infected and never realized it. With her inadequate nutrition she would have been susceptible to any infection that came along. Hmm." She scribbled a few notes in her folder, then picked up her prescription pad and wrote out several prescriptions. "Instructions for taking them will be on the bottles, but this one needs to be taken three times a day after every meal; this one needs to be taken in the morning, this one in the evening to keep her coughing down and help her sleep at night. This one needs to be taken twice a day, every twelve hours. And this last one is a broad-spectrum multi-vitamin to take care of her deficiencies. Take this to the pharmacy down the road, the one across from the gas station; it's the closest." She grabbed another piece of paper and started writing on that too. "As for that cough…it's her body trying to rid itself of the bacteria and junk in her body. She needs to cough it all up. When she lies down at night, have her lie on the bed with her head hanging down and off the bed. It might give her a bit of a headache but it'll help drain her lungs of fluid. And when she wakes up in the morning do that too."

Sara took the slips, looking at the unpronounceable names on them, and tucked them in her purse. "All right. Thank you, Dr. Gillis." She turned to leave.

"Hey," Tina called from behind her as she was about to leave. "Tell Jake he's lucky he has you for a partner. Not everyone would do this for a street kid they just met yesterday."


End file.
